Written by Lonny (April 12, 2010)
Today has been another office day. I ran another jerky taste test trial to determine the best type of jerky to make. Ironically the best one seems to be a commercial American jerky spice. I have not used the Ethiopian mitmita spice which is the common one for their quanta which is equivalent to our jerky. I will try that and see how they like it.
I packed everything for my trip tomorrow. I just hope that I will have a car. I could have had a 4 wheel drive truck but they were asking 1400 ETB/day which was more than I wanted to spend. I may end up with another car which will mean that Abera and I will drive his truck when we go to Kokosa. Sometimes I get discouraged when I have planned so carefully with plenty of time but things don’t work out right. It is easy to see why foreign investors get discouraged and leave. I see wisdom in the way Paul is going forward. He has a good team that can sub in for each other and keep the energy and enthusiasm going.
I think that one of my challenges here is to be caught in between two different worlds. In America we just buy what we need and don’t think twice about it. We spend our time choosing between the many wants that are easily available to us. In Ethiopia time is spent trying to find the things you need or figuring out a way to get by with some form of a substitute.
They finally got a land cruiser for me but it was extremely old, had loose steering, bad brakes, wipers that were falling apart, etc. I decided to go with plan b. I will have Darege drive me to ATARC then on to Awasa where we can pick up Abera’s truck. From there I will just ride with Abera the next two weeks and find a ride back to Addis when the time comes. It will save the company about 20,000 ETB ($1,500) and we should be able to do it without slowing down the work.
I was feeling discouraged today but after reading scriptures and getting the transportation issue worked out I feel much better. I am anxious to get going tomorrow.